Deadline

If you can imagine a Harlen Coben novel filmed by the same people that filmed Poirot back in the day, then you're probably the same age as me and have come to expect better from today's film and tv makers. This is very below standard and only got 4 stars from me because of the ending. My advice would be, give it a miss and rewatch Poirot instead.

Like another reviewer here I was annoyed that I'd invested time in watching the earlier episodes hoping that this would really develop and that the characters would develop. The final episode had me keep checking how much time was left in the hope it would end as quickly as possible - just ridiculous and so contrived and so many plot flaws. Awful.

Well the Budapest footage is quite nice. Though sadly not nice enough to compensate for the rest of this laughable farrago. And laugh I did, on more than one occasion. Probably not a great reaction when tension is meant to be the prevailing mood.

What's slightly frustrating is that Deadline is not without potential. However that potential is squandered on a script that really needs a few more drafts and a good script editor. As it is, what's been sent into production comes across as a rush job that papers over its flaws, perhaps in the hope that the viewers won't look too closely if the thing moves fast enough. The problem is that the absurdities we're expected to gloss over are just too glaring to ignore, an issue which accelerates as each episode progresses. By the final part you'll be hurling the remote at the screen in protest.

James D'Arcy almost saves the show by dint of his considerable acting chops, but his efforts are just not enough when the premise of the script is working against the cast from the outset.

Deadline wants to be a twisty-turny slow-burner with a killer finale - instead it's a poorly constructed house of cards that collapses in a welter of bathos.

Starts off really well in fact the first three episodes are excellent and then we come to the final episode and wow, it all goes very wrong ! The plot and backstory become very convoluted and confusing and to my absolute amazement, I didn't even bother watching the end. It's not like me to give up on a movie/ drama but it really did become lost and and an earlier night in bed was more appealing! S such a shame as the acting is excellent I'm so surprised that anybody thought this final episode would have a cut the mustard! Disappointing.

From the London establishing shots, the music and the bizarre first meeting this lumbering tortoise will never overtake the hare. Have seen both James D'Arcy and Charlie Murphy before and enjoyed their work. Here though they are given but scraps to work with, they make headway, but are crucified by the idea of 'interview as exposition'. The first quarter of this series is clumsily burnt with extraneous groundwork. We have a vapid hook at the end, but do not care since after a tortuous episode we have not been invited to invest in these characters.